Swagbucks is an online rewards program where you earn “Swag Bucks” (known as SB) that can be turned into real gift cards from places like Walmart, Target, Amazon, Best Buy, and more.

If you’re concerned about it being legitimate, don’t worry. I had the same fear as you. Give personal information and consumer data to some site I don’t completely trust? No thanks. But Swagbucks has an A+ rating with the BBB (which is what reassured me) and they’ve been around since 2005.

It’s completely free to join, has over fifteen million members earning money, and has paid out over $137 million (at the time of this writing).

One SB is worth about one cent, but you can earn them fairly easily. While “free money” doesn’t really exist (there’s no such thing as a free lunch), Swagbucks comes pretty close. Here are the ways you can make SB.

Shop Through Their Site

Using Swagbucks as a shopping portal is a nice way to earn some extra cash back. They have stores like Nike, Best Buy, Amazon, and Hotels.com. If a particular store pays you 3 SB per dollar spent, it’s equal to 3% cash back on your purchase. When you combine a rewards credit card and an online discount code, you can save a significant amount of money.

Swagbucks does this because the retailers pay them a commission for people they refer and all they’re doing is passing on some of that referral fee to us. Let’s say you buy a new desktop from Best Buy for $1,000. Best Buy might pay Swagbucks 8% of that sale ($80) and Swagbucks will give you half (4%, or 4,000 SB).

If you’re doing some online shopping, at least do it through Swagbucks because it adds up. All you have to do is click the “Shop Now” link and do your shopping. After you make your purchases, the SB will be in your account within seven days.

Use Their Search Engine

When you first make your Swagbucks account, there will be an option to make Swagbucks your default search engine. I know it might be difficult for you to use anything other than Google, but it’s worth it. The Swagbucks search engine is powered by Yahoo, so you’ll see the same results as when you use a Yahoo search bar.

As I was writing this post, I typed “personal finance genius” into their search bar and earned a quick 20 SB. Twenty cents just for searching something? Not bad!

Please be aware that Swagbucks is incredibly sensitive to people who abuse the system, so please don’t sit around searching random items all day long. You will be met with a not-so-friendly warning.

Take Surveys (of course)

In my experience, this is the way to make the most money with Swagbucks. When I have taken their surveys, I have averaged about $9 per hour. It’s not much, but if I’m waiting around somewhere, I log in and knock out a few dollars. Hey, it pays for lunch!

There’s a ton of surveys that pay a couple hundred SB, which is a few dollars per survey. Most of the surveys pay between 50 and 200 SB. There’s a few that pay 300 SB and take about twenty minutes – that’s how I got to my $9 per hour figure. If you can complete the surveys faster than me (and I am somewhat slow), you can earn more money.

Watch Videos

I wish Swagbucks would let you watch videos all day, but they don’t. They limit your earnings to 150 per day, but I make sure I watch the videos and collect my 150. If you do just this, and nothing else, you’ll earn about $45 per month.

The video categories are: entertainment, pets & travel, home & garden, news, music, health, and food. All you have to do is click play and collect your money. It’s really that easy.

Play Games

In my honest opinion, this isn’t really worth your time. If you like playing online games, go ahead, but I don’t. I played their Deal or No Deal game and didn’t earn too much with it. Maybe I would earn more if I enjoyed playing casino-style games online. I don’t know enough to make more judgments, but that’s my take on the games part.

Print Grocery Store Coupons

This is pretty cool. Not only can you save money by using coupons themselves, but you earn SB for using them. You get 10 SB for every coupon you redeem at your local grocery store, so it’s like getting an extra ten cents off each coupon. If you’re someone who uses coupons, this is something for you to consider. I always see coupons for Dawn, Yoplait, Hawaiian Punch, and more.

Be aware that the coupons take a little time to process (10 to 12 weeks), but if you use them regularly, you won’t even notice the wait.

Refer Your Friends

You can earn 10% of your friend’s earnings. Need I say more? If you refer someone who will actively use Swagbucks, you can get quite a bit of money without doing any of the work.

How Much Money Can I Make With Swagbucks?

You might not become a millionaire using Swagbucks, but you can definitely earn $50-100 in gift cards every month by using them for a few minutes per day. At the bare minimum, you should be usng their search feature. It’s the most painless way to earn SB and you will slowly but surely be earning some rewards that you otherwise wouldn’t.

Swagbucks should NOT be a replacement for a more steady income, because you’d be hard-pressed to earn more than $10 or so per day. I personally think it’s a nice, easy way to earn a few extra dollars that can be used for gifts, dining out, etc. without touching my “real” money.

At the end of the day, Swagbucks is an easy way to make money online fast.

Thanks for the in depth review as I was looking to learn more about Swagbucks. I sometimes use Coupon Cabin but it does not seem nearly as good as this one. $9/hr may not be much but the beauty is you can do it minutes at a time during various downtimes.

Reply

James Pollard

7/27/2016 11:24:29 pm

Exactly! If you're just starting it probably won't be $9 per hour - maybe a little less, but the whole point is to have it add up over time. I know people who wipe out their holiday shopping bill just with Swagbucks.

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